NEWS RELEASE
TOWN OF MIDLAND
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Last year, the Town of Midland received approximately 89 millimetres (mm) of rain for the entire month of June. This past weekend, the Town received almost that much in one day as a ’25-year storm’ passed through our municipality. On Saturday, June 26, 2021, the Town saw 79mm of rainfall over 24 hours, including 57.8mm between 5 and 7 p.m.
“The level of intensity we saw during this storm, and the amount of rainfall within that two-hour window pushes this closer to a ’100-year storm’ based on the Intensity-Duration-Frequency (IDF) curve in our region,” said Mitch Sobil, Manager of Engineering. “Several sewer mains connect at King Street and Bayshore Drive, so it’s not surprising we saw a large surcharge there. However, the work conducted during the King St project installed additional storm mains which gave us much more capacity to deal with the situation. With 2 inches of rain falling during a two-hour window and an inch alone falling between 6:00-6:15 p.m. we’re pleased the system performed very well as it was designed to do. The Town also reported a sewer discharge event which occurred as a result of the overwhelming amount of water overflowing from one chamber.”
Sewer systems are designed to contain up to a 5-year storm level of rainfall. In a two-hour window this would equal approximately 34mm of rain. Anything above that could result in a surcharge overland, which is what occurred on Saturday. However, the amount of surcharge was mitigated considerably thanks to the King Street Rejuvenation project.
Town Operations crews were out putting down sandbags during the storm to divert water and limit washouts in neighbourhoods and have since repaired most damage incurred along roadways. Crews are further investigating some problematic areas to help avoid flooding during future storms.
“This truly was a significant rainstorm, and the improvements to our sewer system helped prevent worse damage being done,” said Mayor Stewart Strathearn. “The King Street Rejuvenation was a giant improvement in our ability to deal with events like this. As we continue similar work throughout Midland and the continued removal of combined sewer systems, our infrastructure should be even more prepared for the next 25-year level storm. I’d like to thank our staff in Operations, our Water and Wastewater team, and our first responders who managed the situation and events professionally and expediently.”
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